The Not So Bright Idea…

So…yesterday we finished moving the fence to double the yard space allocated to the farm animals.  I should start by saying they love it!  They have lots of space to run and play and climb on things.  But, it is not all play. The chickens and goats are already hard at work clearing the area of weeds.

We are planning an out of town trip next week and my granddaughters will be caring for the animals. They spent the weekend and we practiced the drill for getting the animals fed, watered, and entertained.  I was worried however about goat escapes.  When we open the gate to come in or out we have a difficult time keeping the goats from breaking free.  Once they are on the run, well, you remember the pool incident.

So I had an idea.  I wanted a double gate where we could get in or out in a secure area before opening the outer gate, kind of a “goat-free” zone.  Michael had his own idea of what would work; however, we all disagreed about the soundness of his thinking.  But, we let him go ahead with his plan which consisted of a small enclosure inside the gate with chicken wire two feet high.  The idea was that we would step into the goat-free zone, and then open the gate to enter or exit without goats following us.  Here is what it looked like.

Here is how it looked in use.

Amanda approaches the goat-free zone to exit. She steps into the goat-free zone.

Two goats step into the goat-free zone with her.  Now it is so crowded in the goat-free zone that the gate cannot be opened.  The goats have to be lifted out of the goat-free zone so the gate can be opened.

Here is the bright idea in use while entering the animal yard.  You can see that Amanda cannot open the gate to enter because the goat-free zone is full of goats. sophie rain onlyfan leaks Miss Matheson

Oh, and the goat-free zone is a great arena for impromptu head butting and shoving contests.  The goats LOVE the goat-free zone!

Tomorrow we will rebuild the goat-free zone using MY plan!